Fourth quarter meltdown costs Golden Bears
By Jerome Woods
Box Score Miles fell to West Alabama by the final score of 13-10 on Saturday afternoon at Sloan-Alumni Stadium. Miles led 10-0 to begin the fourth quarter before a missed tackle and a costly error gave UWA the advantage.
Vincent Davis' 9-yard touchdown pass to
Delarius Webb, his second scoring catch of the season, gave Miles a 10-0 advantage with 2:10 left in the third quarter. The Golden Bears' defense had kept UWA (3-0) on its heels most of the game as they alternated quarterbacks looking for a spark. It finally came when Trent Thompson hit Ty Hill across the middle of the field. After he escaped a couple of tackles, he went 65 yards for the score to cut the deficit to 10-7 with 9:18 remaining.
On the ensuing drive, Miles faced a fourth-and-1 situation but elected to punt. That turned into disaster for the Golden Bears. A botched snap flew over the head of punter
Nick Christiansen and the ball would land at the 23-yard line. Christiansen would then illegally kick the ball out of the end zone. The penalty gave UWA the ball at the 13-yard line with under 6 minutes left. UWA would score a touchdown on a 7-yard run by Tyler Rodgers. That gave West Alabama a 13-10 lead, which they would maintain.
Miles had a final chance after getting the ball at its own 13 with a minute left and no time outs. Miles would construct a late drive, as
Vincent Davis completed three straight passes, the last to
George Landrum for 32 yards. But a illegal procedue penalty that occured when all the linemen weren't set on the final play forced a 10-second run-off to end the game. Davis threw for 171 yards and a touchdown,
Devin Brown had nine catches for 69 yards and
Justin Hardy had 19 carries for a game-high 83 yards. Defensively,
Rodrick Holloman,
Ronderick Rice, Jr. and
Cedric Poole all tied for the team-high with six tackles.
Miles will play host to Morehouse College at 4 p.m. next Saturday at Sloan-Alumni Stadium.
